Tempting F Body

I am looking for a new car to use in auto-X and on local track days. Traditionally I have been a BMW guy but I just sold my last 320i “play car” and now I need something to keep the Minivan in the garage company. My budget is (with set up) is the same $2,000 it always is but that tends to spiral to about $3,000 before I am finished. That means I am looking for a $1,500 beater project for the wet weekends between now and July (June if we are lucky).

Like any Bimmer guy I have been scouring craigs’list for an E30 325i with a bad clutch and an owner who is fed up with paying someone to tinker on his car. Low and behold I found something else that has me thinking about ditching the Bavarians and buying American.

There is a 90 IROC-Z with a 5 speed, the TPI LB9 motor and factory dual exhaust with reasonable (around 100K) miles for sale up here for $1,200. That’s a rare find and I was thinking about Penske and Hall and all those other Trans Am guys last night. It might be nice to have a big American V-8 up front for a change and torque-a-plenty in the rear. My wife’s last car was a Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 318 and it was fun to work on, everything was big, heavy and cheap, I picture Camaro parts the same way.

My only concern is with chassis set up, steering feel and size, anyone know a good auto-x setup for a 3rd generation Camaro? What about the size, how does it feel piloting a 3000+ lb car through the cones? What are some good places to add “lightness”?

Thanks

I wish i could help more.... but my only input is that my old F-body (83 Z28) handled disturbingly well for a heavy stereotypically straight line "only" car.

I only had it dropped 2 inches, and threw some wide crappy tires (Cooper Cobras) on it, and it FAR outhandled my stock 93 Celica GT coupe at the time.

I would go for it, even if it's only for the want to try something new.

They handle better than you would expect. Sam Strano is THE MAN on camaro prep, and he's always willing to talk. He also has a lot of the goodies you're going to want.

And remember that the Camaros, when set up properly, grip like a sumbit off the line.

I'd have to be pretty desperate before I took my '98 Camaro on the autocross course, unless the goal was ludicrosity. Granted, she's a bit rough. But it's all engine, no chassis.

Another thing is that it is in perfect shape for a toy, it appears to be mechanically sound but the hood, fender and bumper cover are all different colors. That multi-color look will deep six it’s perceived value as a street car but Macco will shot it for $250 and at 25’ it will look fine. The good thing is it still has the factory air bag so I don’t think the past hit was too hard and I know I can get $100 or so for the airbag when I field strip the interior.

The 3rd Gen F-bodies handle disturbingly well. They are low, wide, and have a good factory setup. TONS of aftermarket. I would go for it!

In fact I think I'm going to go look for a similar one around here...

If you're planning on mostly stripping it for a race car, there's plenty of potential, but coming from BMW if you want to keep the interior in the IROC be prepared to deal with all kinds of squeaky and broken/non-functional bits.

I had an '87 T/A, and yes it handled way better than I expected(though that was back when I was a straight-line type guy), but the hatch just wouldn't open one day, the passenger's door had to be opened from the inside & random electrical stuff inside would choose whether or not to work at will.

Sounds like a fun toy in the making. I have a 1987 IROC-Z that is my DD/Autocross toy. If you are looking for handling then you have found the car! You are right... The stock TPI motors are major torque monsters. Even my little 305 TPI is a very potent motor.

As far as suspension set up goes, try UMIperformance, Spohn, and check out Sam Stranos website. Another great place to look for some tech talk is thirdgen.org. My username on thirdgen.org is "racing geek" if you want to chat on there. You can also see some of the stuff I have done to my car on my readers ride page here.

Best of luck, Mike

Oh, some amazing deals can also be found on new but never installed or only slightly used parts over at ThirdGen.org. There was recently a set of eibach springs with 100 miles on them for $100 below original price of $250.

http://chambana.craigslist.org/cto/1003750937.html find some front seats and you are good to go.

seriously call Sam if you do get it, he helped me with my mustang and with his direction the car took a quantum leap. http://www.stranoparts.com/ (noone else put his site up? )

Car that beat my mustang this year.

Plus they have some of the best aero dynamics, just don't get a mullet

I recently scored one of these, my 85 is being prepped for rally use though, loving these links guys keep em coming

Thanks, you guys are giving me a reason to fix mine instead of junking it.

I love the third gen camaros! They are very cheap, give you the older look and can be easily be updated will newer technology. I live about 15min. from Hawk third gen parts, you should check out their website. It is full of neat mods like ls1 swap parts and tubular suspension parts. You could go crazy with fiberglass to lighten it up. I'm not sure but they might make some carbon fiber bits for it. If it's going to be like a daily driver and you don't like the old looking interior you can install the dash and console from the newer fourth gen camaros with little modification. All-in-all in is a great platform. hawksthirdgenparts.com

Your lucky you live so close to them. The will ocasionaly have some good deals on the used parts they sell.

As far as making them lighter... you won't want to go with carbon fiber if your on a budget. they only places that make carbon fibernparts like doors and what not as in japan so yeah... Shipping will probably be like 3x the cost of the part. Your only realistic option is fiberglass. There are companies that make glass hoods, doors, and hatches but the hatch requires lexan and the does are like $500 each last I remember. I say strip the interior and sell all that so you lose weight and make money. Then focus your weight saving measures on the front. A pin on glass hood will save about 30 pounds.

You can swap in an LSx, but I think that is gonna be around $5,000 when it is all said and done. Even swapping in a T56 will run you about $2,000.

If you want to look into brake upgrades, contact "ebmiller" on thirdgen.org, or go to his website which is flynbye.com. I plan on going to him when I do my brake upgrade in the spring. I'll be going with his Wilwood FSL front kit (13"x1.1" rotor/4 piston caliper). It still fits under the stock 16" wheels too.

If you want to save rotional mass get rid of the IROC-Z wheels since they weigh 24.x lbs each. It may look odd on a camaro, but get the firebird 16" crosslace wheels because they only weigh 16.x lbs each. Another thing to consider is an aluminum driftshaft. Sometimes you can find a 3" piece from a LS1 4th gen for $80+shipping (average is $125+shipping).

I can talk, or in this case type, for days on this this. If you have any other questions just ask.

Mike